Newbury Coat challenge falls short

A valiant attempt by traditional craftsmen and women from across Berkshire to recreate Newbury Coat fails to break record

A 200 year-old wager was recreated in the Corn Exchange, Newbury this weekend, as 150 spinners, carders, tailors race attempt to turn wool from a sheep's back into a furnished coat in under 12 hours.

Despite a valiant effort the making of the Newbury Coat by Berkshire sheep shearers and members of the Kennet Valley Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers along with 10 tailors who completed the effort in 14 hours 44 minutes, two hours over the previous record they set in 1991 at the Newbury Show.

Around 3000 people attended the record attempt over Saturday and Sunday, where sheep were sheared in the Market Place at the event's beginning, and the MP for Newbury Richard Benyon paraded the finished garment through the town centre on Sunday evening.

The challenge was re-enacted 20 years ago, at the Newbury Agricultural Show, when a similar coat was completed in 12 hours 36 minutes and 26 seconds.

The original coat made in 1811 can be seen at the Throckmorton family's ancestral home, in Coughton Court, Warwickshire, and the remade coat from 1991, on display during the challenge, was loaned from Shaw House where it resides.

Challenge organiser Linda Scurr said it was a fantastic effort from everyone who took part and thanked the Newbury Weekly News, as well as Camp Hopson, Greenham Common Trust and the Corn Exchange for helping the event get started.

For more pictures from the day, pick up a copy of Thursday's Newbury Weekly News